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Planet Green
Map courtesy NASA/NOAA
Earth's gone green in recently released satellite images showing our planet's vegetation (pictured here, the entire planet).
Using the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite, scientists can now detect subtle differences in greenness on the 25 percent of Earth that's made up of land. (See National Geographic pictures of life in green.)
The images—taken between April 2012 and 2013—show the darkest green areas as the lushest, while the pale colors signify sparse vegetation cover due to snow, drought, rock, or urban areas, according to the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
Mapping vegetation has some practical uses, including forecasting weather or understanding how to best use agricultural land.
—Christine Dell'Amore
Published June 20, 2013
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Emerald Nile
Map courtesy NASA/NOAA
Looking like a ginkgo leaf, the life-sustaining Nile River winds south through Egypt in a satellite picture created from images taken between July 9 and 15, 2012.
The white dots are the urbanized areas of northern Egypt. (Explore an interactive of the green maps.)
Published June 20, 2013
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Mississippi Greens
Map courtesy NASA/NOAA
The Mississippi River and its many tributaries—seen in lighter green—empty into the Gulf of Mexico in a picture made from satellite images taken between March 25 and 31 of this year.
Forty percent of the salt marsh in the continental United States are located where these two water bodies meet.
Published June 20, 2013
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Fertile Crescent
Map courtesy NASA/NOAA
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers create a fertile crescent through central Iraq in an image created from pictures taken between November 12 to 18, 2012.
Though clouds can often obscure satellite images, there's usually enough clear sky over the course of the week to get the shot, according to the NOAA website.
Published June 20, 2013
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A River Runs Through It
Map courtesy NASA/NOAA
Farmland straddles the Platte River (center) in the U.S. Midwest state of Nebraska in an image from pictures taken between July 22 to 28, 2012.
This region produces around 40 percent of the annual corn yield for the U.S., according to NOAA.
Published June 20, 2013
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Mountain High
Map courtesy NASA/NOAA
The Rocky, Cascade, and Coast mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest seem to resemble parts of the human brain in an image taken from June 11 to 17, 2012.
White areas depict higher, less vegetated elevations. Potato fields and other agriculture can be seen in the bottom center of the image as the Rockies give way to the plains of Idaho.
Published June 20, 2013
11 comments
@Rishabh Mishra USA is quite a bit white,,, the green part is North America (CANADA) and south America, like Brazil, Paraguay. for your information !!!
1 Like
This is great information!!! As things are always changing on Earth, it would be nice to compare this image to future images. We can see if the Earth is getting greener due to heating up or the rate of agricultural land is going away. Now, does this image takes into effect that some areas are GREEN but NOT sustainable for agriculture land? I also wondering if the deserts are growing?
Is a really high-res picture available for download somewhere perhaps? Would love to (APA certified ofcourse) use this in a presentation
This is a brilliant concept/development, not just for scientific purposes but for social awareness too. Such maps should be made viral online and distributed across social media sites to create awareness among people. Though it'll be a drop in the ocean, it would do some good to the earth if its inhabitants start behaving more responsibly.
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